Patients' happiness with the NHS has fallen by record levels after an annual
survey found that government reforms have left nearly one in four people
dissatisfied with the health service.

The proportion of people saying they were satisfied with the way the NHS is run has fallen from 70 per cent in 2010 to 58 per cent last year – the biggest drop recorded since the survey began almost 30 years ago.

The King's Fund, which conducted the service, said that the government's controversial health reforms and the funding squeeze on the NHS were the most likely causes of the decline in satisfaction.

The decline comes after nearly a decade of improving levels of satisfaction with the health service.

John Appleby, lead author of the report, said: "The run of year-on-year increases in NHS satisfaction had to come to an end at some stage, and it is not surprising this has happened when the NHS is facing a well-publicised spending squeeze.

When analysed by political persuasion, the survey results showed a universal drop in satisfaction, with the biggest drop, of 13 per cent, among Labour supporters.

The report concluded: "It may be that a combination of ministerial rhetoric to justify the reforms, concern about the reforms themselves and reaction to the funding squeeze combined to generate worries about the NHS and to dent public perception that it is being run well."

The government's own polling on the NHS, due to be published on Tuesday, is expected to show public satisfaction has remained stable at around 70 per cent.

Health Minister Simon Burns said: "Our latest survey of over 70,000 patients shows that an overwhelming majority – 92 per cent – say that their overall experience of the NHS was good, very good or excellent.

"The British Social Attitudes Survey targets the general public rather than targeting people that have actually used the NHS, so responses are influenced by other factors – by its nature it is not as accurate a picture as the data from patients.

"Our own polling of the general public, undertaken independently by MORI, shows that satisfaction with the NHS is broadly stable at around 70 per cent over a similar and more recent time period."

Andy Burnham, Shadow Health Secretary, said: "It speaks volumes that the first fall in public satisfaction with the NHS for over a decade came in the first full year of Tory control.

"It takes a special kind of incompetence to inherit a successful NHS with patient satisfaction at an all-time high and in just two years in Government turn it into an organisation demoralised, destabilised and fearful of the future.

"Patients can already see the damage being done to services and staff morale by David Cameron's disastrous decision to re-organise the NHS at a time of financial stress. It is heading back to the bad old days of the 80s and 90s with waiting times, A&E in chaos and patients waiting for hours on trolleys in corridors."

Mike Farrar, chief executive of the NHS Confederation, which represents most NHS organisations, said: "These results give us an sharp indication that the public have become worried and confused about what is going on with the NHS. It would appear very likely that much of this relates to the understanding and support for the recent reforms.

"It is really important that politicians and NHS leaders are engaging the public in the major debate about the NHS and how we need to change in order to sustain and improve the services they have come to expect and value over recent years. Any drop in confidence in the service or confusion about the nature of current reform is therefore troubling.

“Over the coming months, it is going to be more important than ever that the Government and the NHS communicate effectively the financial and service challenges we face.

“The NHS has got to respond to massive financial pressure and the changing nature of health and social care in a way that takes patients and the public with us.

"It will be much harder to make the changes to services necessary if public perception and confidence deteriorates.”